Messi emerges victorious in legal battle, Pogba revisits his childhood at Disneyland, Neymar takes up cycling… These are the standout off-the-field stories in the world of football on April 27th.
After a long legal battle spanning 7 years, Messi has emerged victorious over Massi. According to BBC, yesterday in Luxembourg, the European Union court officially ruled in favor of Lionel Messi in the trademark dispute over his own name.
Back in 2011, Messi had applied to the European Union Intellectual Property Office to register a trademark bearing his name for business purposes related to clothing, equipment, and sports gear. However, his application was outright rejected because his brand name sounded quite similar to Massi, a previously registered brand.
Even Massi, a renowned manufacturer of cycling gear and clothing in Spain, had filed a counterclaim, arguing against allowing Messi to use his own name as a brand for fear of consumer confusion.
Refusing to bow down to Massi’s demands, the Barcelona star had authorized his lawyers to pursue legal action over the past 7 years, finally convincing the European Union court. “Ultimately, we found that Messi’s reputation far outweighs any similarity in pronunciation and image with Massi. He is fully entitled to use his name for business purposes,” the court representative affirmed.
Paul Pogba posed for a photo with the familiar dog Pluto from Disney cartoons. In order to relive his childhood memories, Pogba took a short holiday during Manchester United’s season and visited Disneyland Paris with his family. While Herrera went with his own small family, Pogba chose to bring his mother to this nostalgic park. They even made a video capturing their fun adventures and games at the park as a keepsake. This relaxing and rejuvenating time at Disneyland was much needed for both Herrera and Pogba as they prepare to compete for a spot in the starting lineup at Old Trafford.
Neymar is now able to pedal around with his pals. Photo: The Sun
Neymar has ditched his crutches
The Sun has brought some great news for fans of the Brazilian national team, as striker Neymar has finally been able to ditch his crutches after a long period of patiently recovering from injury. The Selecao’s number one hope is now able to walk around quite normally, and even… ride a bike with his friends on the streets.
However, many experts believe that the 26-year-old player needs to be patient a little longer, avoid exerting himself too much, in order to fully recover from his leg injury and be ready to conquer the 2018 World Cup.
The fiery celebration of HLV Diego Simeone’s two sons was a sight to behold. The young Simeone heirs were ecstatic as Atletico overcame adversity.
The 1-1 draw against Arsenal early this morning was seen as a surprising result for Atletico Madrid. They faced challenges, losing a player and having their coach sent off within the first 10 minutes. They had to defend against continuous attacks from the home team and eventually conceded a goal in the second half.
At that point, it seemed Atletico would be satisfied with only losing by one goal in such dire circumstances. However, in the 82nd minute, taking advantage of a defensive mistake by the home team, striker Antoine Griezmann calmly scored the equalizer, unexpectedly giving Atletico a significant advantage for the second leg.
Witnessing this impressive comeback, HLV Simeone’s two sons back in Spain, Gianluca and Giuliano, enthusiastically celebrated. They hugged each other, shouting with fiery eyes in a dizzying video circulating on social media. Their actions mirrored Simeone’s passionate celebrations from previous seasons. Like father, like sons!
Compiled by TRẦN THUẬN